Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka has grow to be the world’s highest-paid feminine athlete, making $37.four million (34.three million euros) prior to now 12 months for an earnings document, Forbes journal reported Friday. The 22-year-old Asian star, a two-time Grand Slam champion, edged US rival Serena Williams by $1.four million in prize cash and endorsement revenue over the previous 12 months. Each shattered the previous single-year earnings mark of $29.7 million set in 2015 by Russia’s Maria Sharapova, who retired in February with 5 Grand Slam titles, together with a profession Slam.

“To those outside the tennis world, Osaka is a relatively fresh face with a great back story,” College of Southern California sports activities enterprise professor David Carter informed Forbes.

“Combine that with being youthful and bicultural – two attributes that help her resonate with younger, global audiences – and the result is the emergence of a global sports marketing icon.”

Osaka, whose father was born in Haiti and whose mom is Japanese, ranks 29th on the 2020 Forbes record of the world’s 100 top-paid athletes, 4 spots forward of Williams, who has received 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

The whole record, as a consequence of be launched subsequent week, has not featured two ladies since 2016, in line with the journal.

Williams, 38, had been the world’s highest-paid feminine athlete in every of the previous 4 years. Sharapova dominated for the 5 years earlier than that.

Williams had annual incomes from $18 million to $29 million and has collected practically $300 million, a lot of it in endorsement offers.

Osaka received back-to-back Grand Slam titles on the 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian Open, her controversial and historic victory over Williams within the Flushing Meadows ultimate the primary Slam singles crown for a Japanese girl.